{"id":5413,"date":"2026-03-12T21:37:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T21:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/12\/icc-prosecutor-opens-probe-into-belarus-over-deportations-to-lithuania\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T21:37:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T21:37:49","slug":"icc-prosecutor-opens-probe-into-belarus-over-deportations-to-lithuania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/12\/icc-prosecutor-opens-probe-into-belarus-over-deportations-to-lithuania\/","title":{"rendered":"ICC prosecutor opens probe into Belarus over deportations to Lithuania"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>The prosecutor\u2019s office said the crimes being investigated include deportation and persecution through deportation.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have opened an investigation into Belarus over the suspected forced deportation of government opponents.<\/p>\n<p>The ICC prosecutor\u2019s office said on Thursday that it had found \u201ca reasonable basis to believe crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court have been committed\u201d.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/9\/4\/lukashenko-pardons-30-convicted-in-belarus-anti-government-protests\">Lukashenko pardons 30 convicted in Belarus antigovernment protests<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/11\/21\/belarus-leader-lukashenko-pardons-32-prisoners-convicted-for-extremism\">Belarus leader Lukashenko pardons 32 prisoners convicted for \u2018extremism\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/6\/21\/belarus-opposition-leader-syarhei-tikhanovsky-freed-from-jail-says-wife\">Belarus opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanouski freed from jail, says wife<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The alleged crimes that are being investigated include deportation and persecution through deportation and were committed \u201cat least in part on the territory of Lithuania\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a reasonable basis to believe that these crimes were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population,\u201d the prosecutor added.<\/p>\n<p>While Belarus is not a member of the ICC, Lithuania is and brought the case to the court.<\/p>\n<p>Lithuania has become a refuge for tens of thousands of Belarusians who left their homeland after Minsk authorities violently suppressed protests against longtime President Alexander Lukashenko in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Exiled opposition figures have regularly reported being threatened by Minsk\u2019s KGB security services while abroad.<\/p>\n<p>Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya welcomed the ICC prosecutor\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHundreds of thousands of Belarusians have suffered, and continue to suffer, because of the regime\u2019s actions. Lukashenka\u2019s policies also create threats for Belarus\u2019 neighbours,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis decision restores hope. That justice will prevail, that those responsible will be held accountable, and that the victims will finally receive truth and justice,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>In September 2024, Lithuania urged the ICC to open an investigation as it said some of the alleged crimes took place in its country.<\/p>\n<p>Belarus has often forcibly deported political prisoners released from prison, mostly to Lithuania, such as Nobel Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, in December.<\/p>\n<p>Last September, Minsk also tried to deport opposition figure Mikola Statkevich to Lithuania by force. Refusing to cross the border, he walked back to Belarus and was sent back to prison before being released for medical reasons last month.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Viasna rights group, there are 1,139 political prisoners in Belarus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The prosecutor\u2019s office said the crimes being investigated include deportation and persecution through deportation. Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have opened an investigation into Belarus over the suspected forced deportation of government opponents. The ICC prosecutor\u2019s office said on Thursday that it had found \u201ca reasonable basis to believe crimes within the jurisdiction &#8230; <a title=\"ICC prosecutor opens probe into Belarus over deportations to Lithuania\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/12\/icc-prosecutor-opens-probe-into-belarus-over-deportations-to-lithuania\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about ICC prosecutor opens probe into Belarus over deportations to Lithuania\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}